Cuomo: 'Why Does Putin Command Such Deference and Secrecy From and by Our President?'

During Tuesday’s Cuomo Prime Time, CNN host Chris Cuomo closed by peddling conspiracy theories related to President Trump and Russia, acting as if it were an indisputable fact that President Trump colluded with Russia.

Cuomo began by asking: “If you did nothing wrong, then why aren't you telling me the truth?” Cuomo described that question as “what we tell our kids…so they know to just come clean. You know the drill. Well, the President apparently does not.”

The CNN liberal did his best to lay out a case of President Trump colluding with Russia, pointing to a series of meetings held between the two and arguing that a conversation between the two at the G-20 in Buenos Aires led to his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.

Not surprisingly, Cuomo cited President Trump’s decision to believe Putin’s declaration that Russia did not interfere in the 2016 election as proof that the American people sent a Kremlin stooge into the White House.

As he attempted to “put it all together,” Cuomo argued that the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting amounted to collusion. He also alleged that the President’s “two oldest advisors, Manafort and Stone, he’s known them close to 40 years, they get accused by Mueller of mixing with the bad guys.”

So much for “facts first.” First of all, the crimes Paul Manafort and Roger Stone are accused of committing have nothing to do with Russian collusion; as ABC’s Jonathan Karl explained to Joy Behar on a recent episode of The View.

Cuomo dismissed President Trump’s claims that he did not know about many of his associates' ties to Russia before asking “why does Putin command such deference and secrecy from and by our President?”

Eventually, he ended by reiterating a point he made earlier: “The lesson we all learned as kids looms large here. If the President has nothing to hide, why lie? Why do the President and those close to him keep lying about Russia-related matters? What did the President know about all that happened around him and for him?”

A transcript of the relevant portion of Tuesday’s Cuomo Prime Time is below. Click “expand” to read more.

CNN's Cuomo Prime Time

01/29/19

09:56 p.m. Eastern

CHRIS CUOMO: If you did nothing wrong, then why aren’t you telling me the truth? That’s what we tell our kids, right, so they know to just come clean. You know the drill. Well, the President apparently does not. So, why all the secrecy around Russia and Putin? Here’s the most recent example, the G-20 in Buenos Aires. We were told there’ll be no meeting because of what the Russian Navy did to the Ukraine. Okay. But they did end up talking over dinner. No word to us. Now, a Russian official tells Financial Times that the leaders spoke for 15 minutes, and they talked about Syria. Why does that matter? 19 days later, Trump stunned everyone by announcing a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria. Now, the two first met at the Hamburg G-20 in July 2017; when Trump took away his interpreter’s notes. That night, they met again at this dinner. Trump signals to Putin from across the table. Then they talk. The only other person in the conversation, Putin’s translator. And then, there were the big WTFs; where the President did something we have never seen before. After meeting with Putin in November 2017, our President took the word of an inimical power over the word of his own Intel agencies about election interference. He told reporters then, “Every time he sees me, he says, ‘I didn’t do that,’ and I really and I believe…I, I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it.” He was admonished by the media, elected officials on both sides of the aisle, and his Intel folks. So, of course, he doubled down on a dumb move. July 2018, he meets with Putin in Helsinki. No one there but interpreters. Even now, some of his own people are still in the dark about what happened. And then afterwards, the President of the United States said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT TRUMP: All I can do is ask the question. My people came to me, Dan Coats came to me and some others, they said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this. I don’t see any reason why it would be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: I was there. World media and locals in Helsinki stopped me and shook their heads. So look, just put it all together. First, POTUS told you there were no contacts with Russia by his campaign. There were dozens. How did he not know? Next, he said there was no collusion with anyone around him and Russia. Then his kid met with a known Russian government operative to get dirt on Clinton with his son-in-law and Campaign Chair, he says he didn’t know about the meeting. Then, they all lied about POTUS drafting this statement about the meeting. How could he have not known? Then his two oldest advisers, Manafort and Stone, he’s known them close to 40 years, they get accused by Mueller of mixing with the bad guys, and the word from the White House, “he didn’t know.” Why does Putin command such deference and secrecy from and by our President? The lesson we all learn as kids looms large here. If the President has nothing to hide, why lie? Why do the President and those close to him keep lying about Russia-related matters? What did the President know about all that happened around him and for him? We need to know. And whether the Attorney General is Whitaker or Barr, no matter what they told the President to get the job, they will hopefully remember that they work for all of us, not just the President.

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